By Hon. Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare – Minister for Tourism Culture & Creative Arts, Ghana at the Weizo Accra
I am very excited to be part of the maiden Weizo Accra conference to be held in Ghana. I will like to applaud the organizers for putting such an event together within a short time. The event seeks to bring tourism and aviation experts to discuss the development within the sub region. I like the presence here of The IATA representatives.
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The Theme for the conference couldn’t have been better than this ‘’ Seamless Travels in West Africa’’
Ladies and Gentlemen the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts share in this theme and have advocated for sub regional and even promoting Destination Africa through our International fairs and exhibition.
The latest UNWTO barometer on international tourism sees the sub region as the least attracted destination within the Africa sub region lagging behind the other regions in Africa. Africa itself gets just 53 million tourists out of over 1 billion global tourists. This is just a mere 5% of the global receipt. This is poor for a continent of over 1 billion people
We owe it a duty to use our comparative advantages to help shape the tourism industry in the sub region. So you can imagine how badly West Africa is doing compared to global standards.
Regional tourism can help improve tourist arrivals and in effect create the necessary employment for the teeming youth in West Africa. With a population of over 300 million people, lovely beaches, rich culture and breathtaking destinations West Africa can drive continental growth in tourism and trade.
Refreshing news about the event is how the event is bringing the sub region tourism practitioners together especially the long standing Ghana-Nigeria relationship.Nigeria has been a steady supplier of Tourists to Ghana with annual visitors of over 100 000 people but this is a small drop in the ocean. Nigeria with over 170 million people spent over $2.5 billion last year on flight tickets alone but most of these trips were outside Africa. We hope that this event Accra Weizo and the Akwaaba Travel Market which we also attend in Nigeria will further deepen the fraternal relationship between our two countries and grow tourism between us.
As Ghana prepares itself to move into the next phase of its development agenda of accelerated growth and modernisation, activities such as tourism and its various components provides crucial alternatives in such pursuits. Please move outside Accra to other locations in Ghana and find out why Ghana was listed among the global top 25 destinations in 2015.
I also wish to once again congratulate the organizers of this event and encourage all stakeholders to work together to have a stronger and vibrant sub regional tourism. I wish to thank the organizer for accepting my invitation to come and organise an event in Ghana. I asked Mr. Ikechi Uko at the World Travel Market in London to organise an event in Accra as the Ghanaian tourism stakeholders have always supported his events in Nigeria. Now we have Accra Weizo we expect a bigger and better event next year.
I would not end my address without commenting on the appearance of the world famous Carnival Calabar Queens in their first parade in Ghana. While thanking the executive Governor of Cross River State Professor Ben Ayade for honoring us with his presence I am happy to announce that we will be comparing notes on our plan to launch a world class event similar to the carnival. I am told that Carnival Calabar is Africa’s largest street party with over 2 million participants every December, Ghana will soon be launching its own event. I also noticed that you have in your entourage the famous Nigerian lady politician Senator Florence Ita Giwa famously known in Nigeria as Mama Bakassi. Madam you are welcome to Ghana. .Akwaaba or as more appropriate for this event. .Weizo which also means welcome.
